


Masquerade Ball

by Liza_Taylor



Series: Promptober 2020-Sylbern/Sylvadetta Edition [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/M, Fluff, October Prompt Challenge, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26750374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liza_Taylor/pseuds/Liza_Taylor
Summary: Bernadetta was not looking forward to attending a masquerade ball as per her father's wishes.Prompt: Mask
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/Bernadetta von Varley
Series: Promptober 2020-Sylbern/Sylvadetta Edition [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947940
Kudos: 20





	Masquerade Ball

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my promptober fics! This is the first year I'm doing anything like this and of course I wanted to have one themed for my favorite FE3H couple, haha. For my prompts, I'm not following any one prompt list in particular but more mix and matching from a bunch of different ones. Hopefully I can keep up and not fall behind on this but we'll see I guess?

Bernadetta adjusted her mask, hating how it clung to her face. The murmur of the crowd was bombarding her senses and she again wondered how she ended up at this masquerade ball.

Well, truth be told, she knew how. Her father wanted her to “get out” more, possibly catch a husband. Apparently fighting and being on the winning side of the war didn’t do much to sway his opinion of her.

Maybe if she stayed on the edge of the party area, no one would notice her. Her dad to just attend, he didn’t say she needed to talk to anyone. Yes, that was what she would do!

Of course it was like Seiros had heard her and had other plans as a man wearing a long beaked mask came up to her. “Hello, what are you doing over here all by yourself?”

Bernadetta wrung her hands together as she tried to come up with an excuse to why she was avoiding everyone that didn’t sound pathetic and sad. “Just…enjoying the corner over here.” She winced. That sounded so stupid!

He chuckled but instead of leaving, he held out a hand. “Well would you like to dance? I can tell there is probably a cute girl under that mask of yours and it is a shame you are standing here all by yourself.”

She looked down at his hand and then up at him. Nope, from what she could see of his eyes through the mask, he was obviously not kidding. Dance? Out there? She glanced at the dance floor with the mass of bodies. Nope, no way, she really did not want to go out there, she was getting better with crowds but that was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Come on,” he purred, taking a small step towards her.

“Uh, well-”

“There you are!”

Bernadetta felt a presence behind her and a strong hand rest on her shoulder. She glanced up, her heart pounding so fast and her anxiety running away with her that she only noted the fox mask that covered his facial features and the dark traditional Faerghus suit he wore.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, why did you wander off when I turned my back? Come on, I found the food table, they have those cakes you love.”

She barely had time to process what had happened before the new stranger led her over to the food table in question. Once they reached the table, he released her and sighed. “That was a close one. I recognized him as one of the lords of a minor region in Fareghus, very small but he’s always trying to gold dig his way up, he’s also super handsy on the dance floor so glad I was able to find you in time.”

“Find me?” she squeaked. Why was he trying to find her? Oh Seiros, did she go from one bad situation to another?

“You okay Bernie Bear?” Even through the mask, she could see the concern in his eyes. “Are the crowds too much?”

Wait, only one person called her that. She took a moment to really take him in and she finally noticed the familiar red hair and tall build. “Sylvain?” she squeaked.

“Yes?” He blinked slowly. “Wait, did you _just_ realize it was me?”

“Uh, well uh, maybe?” she said softly, looking down at her feet. Or where her feet would be since her dress was so long it was sweeping the floor slightly. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, that explains why you stiffened up when I was leading you over here. I should have realized it and said something, sorry about that Bernie.”

“It’s fine,” she said quickly. She glanced at the food display and picked up one of the finger-cakes. “You were right, these are my favorite.”

“They are apparently super good too, as attested by Annette. She’s around here somewhere with Felix.” Sylvain looked around but didn’t seem to find the people he was looking for. “Well, they’ll be fine knowing them. Anyway, what are you doing here Bernie? I wasn’t expecting you to be here, I would have totally coordinated my outfit with you then!”

“It was a last minute decision. Oh, this cake is good!” Just the right amount of fluffiness and the buttercream was balanced and not super sweet.

“It was your father wasn’t it?”

Bernadetta looked at the ground again.

Sylvain let out a long sigh and murmured something under his breath. Probably an insult. When she had told him what her dad had done, she was afraid he was going to march over to the Varley property and beat him up with the Lance of Ruin or do something even worse.

“Why did he want you to come to this ball?”

“Just to meet people I think,” she murmured.

“Meet people huh?” She knew that he knew that it was code for try to get Bernadetta married off. “I should probably pay a visit to you soon, just been busy with getting everything figured out now that the war is over.”

“Uh you don’t have to,” she stammered.

He put an arm around her and put a light kiss on the top of her head. “Of course I have to.”

She blushed. “I’m sorry for being able to say anything myself,” she whispered.

“It’s okay Bernie, based on what you told me of your dad, it makes sense why you would be too scared to do so. Don’t worry, I got this.” He cocked his head slightly. “Oh, a new song is starting up.” He gently led her out of the dance hall and into the hallway. It was empty, everyone was in the hall, the music loud enough that it could be heard even out here.

“Sylvain? Where are we going?”

He stopped and turned to her and gave her a sweeping bow. “May I have a dance from the beautiful lady in front of me?”

Bernadetta couldn’t help but giggle at the theatrics before giving him a curtsey and taking his hand. He held her hand tight, his other hand on her waist and they spent the rest of the ball dancing in the hallway.


End file.
